Stockholders' Equity of Identive Group, Inc. - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended									1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended										1 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	0 Months Ended							0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
	Aug. 14, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012		Dec. 31, 2011	Oct. 01, 2013 Contingent Consideration Classified as Equity	Sep. 30, 2013 Contingent Consideration Classified as Equity	Sep. 30, 2013 Warrant	Sep. 30, 2013 Warrant Private Placement	Sep. 30, 2013 Warrant Third amendment Private Placement	Sep. 30, 2013 Bluehill I D	Sep. 30, 2013 Bluehill I D Noncontrolling Interest	Sep. 30, 2013 Hirsch Electronics Warrant	Sep. 30, 2013 Hercules Loan Warrant Third amendment	Oct. 01, 2013 idOnDemand, Inc. Contingent Consideration Classified as Equity	Sep. 30, 2013 idOnDemand, Inc. Contingent Consideration Classified as Equity	Oct. 01, 2013 idOnDemand, Inc. Contingent Consideration Classified as Equity Subsequent Event	Oct. 01, 2013 polyright SA Contingent Consideration Classified as Equity	Sep. 30, 2013 polyright SA Contingent Consideration Classified as Equity	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options	Sep. 30, 2012 Stock Options	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options	Sep. 30, 2012 Stock Options	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options Bluehill I D	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options 1	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options 2	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options 5	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options 3	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options 4	Sep. 30, 2013 Directors Option Plan	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Option Plan 1997	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Option Plan 2000	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options Plan 2007	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options	Jan. 31, 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Jan. 31, 2012 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Jun. 30, 2011 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Sep. 30, 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Dec. 31, 2012 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Sep. 30, 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Options Bluehills I D	Jun. 30, 2010 Stock Incentive Plan Twenty Ten	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Incentive Plan Twenty Ten	Jun. 06, 2011 Stock Incentive Plan Twenty Eleven	Sep. 30, 2013 Equity Incentive Plans 2011 and 2010	Sep. 30, 2013 Stock Option and Incentive Plan	Sep. 30, 2013 Bluehill Plans	Sep. 30, 2013 Minimum Stock Options	Sep. 30, 2013 Maximum Stock Options	Sep. 30, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund	Apr. 16, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement	Apr. 17, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement	Apr. 17, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement Minimum	Apr. 17, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement Maximum
Purchase agreement, maximum amount of sale																																																				$ 20,000,000
Common stock required to issue under the agreement																																																				251,799
Common stock required to issue under the agreement, additional shares																																																				323,741	32,374	20,380
Initial purchase value																																																					2,000,000
Initial purchase price per share																																																					$ 1.14
Purchase agreement term																																																					36 months
Aggregate shares that can be purchased subject to certain conditions																																																					18,000,000
Maximum number of common stock to be purchased from time to time																																																					100,000
Closing sale price of common stock																																																							$ 0.50	$ 0.75
Issuance of common stock in connection with capital raise, net of issuance costs (in shares)	8,348,471																																																				1,754,386	1,600,000
Issuance of common stock in connection with capital raise, net of issuance costs	7,100,000	2,773,000																																																			1,500,000	1,300,000
Underwriting expense																																																					500,000
Common stock, shares issued		74,140,000		74,140,000	[1]																																																284,173
Common stock reserved for future issuance (in shares)		14,500,000						4,300,000	18,900,000	3,700,000	9,300,000	3,300,000	1,300,000	4,900,000	1,000,000		3,900,000			400,000					2,000,000													2,000,000	3,000,000		3,000,000	2,000,000	3,000,000		4,000,000	4,700,000	4,800,000	2,000,000			8,400,000
Employee stock purchase plan offering term																																						10 years
Annual increase in aggregate number of shares reserved for issuance under ESPP																																				750,000	750,000	750,000			3,009,646
Increase in the aggregate number of shares reserved for issuance under the ESPP as percentage of total shares outstanding																																						2.00%
Percentage of common stock purchase price of fair market value																																						85.00%
ESPP each offering period (in months)																																						6 months
Employee stock purchase plan offering, extended term																																								24 months
Common stock shares issued under ESPP																																							123,507		192,113
Unrecognized compensation expense		900,000																																					200,000		200,000
Unrecognized stock-based compensation expense, weighted average period of recognition		2 years 11 months 12 days																																							21 months
Amount of non-qualified stock options to be received as percentage of participant's base salary																																											20.00%
Lock-up period from date of grant																																											24 months
Issuance of common stock in connection with stock bonus and incentive plans (in shares)																																												1,100,000
Authorized																																													4,600,000
Number of shares available for grant		6,712,491		7,769,039		10,114,332																																							8,600,000
Granted		1,220,725		2,208,110																																									3,800,000
Accrued bonus		300,000	100,000
Stock options plans expiration period																																																	7 years	10 years
Percentage of stock options vesting																										25.00%	25.00%	100.00%
Stock options vesting period																										4 years	1 year		1 year	4 years
Percentage of stock options vesting after one year																													100.00%
Stock options, outstanding number		4,769,621		4,048,972		2,266,821																									200,000	200,000	200,000	1,000,000	3,400,000
Weighted-average grant date fair value per option for options granted																					$ 0.77	$ 0.72	$ 0.93	$ 1.14
Stock options exercised																						188		188
Proceeds from issuance of common stock upon options exercised
Common stock released for future issuance for contingent consideration related to acquisitions ( in shares)
Shares excluded from calculation of diluted loss per share		0	600,000
Common stock issued in private placement, sales price	$ 0.85
Number of additional common stock to be purchased by the warrant	8,348,471
Warrant exercise price	$ 1.00
Issuance cost of common stock in private placement	800,000
Cash paid to placement agent	600,000
Common stock to be issued for placement agent	1,000,000
Private placement warrant term	4 years
Private placement warrant estimated volatility	91.57%
Private placement warrant risk free interest rate	1.08%
Private placement warrant fair value	$ 4,000,000

[1] The condensed consolidated balance sheet has been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements at December 31, 2012 but does not include all the information and footnotes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements.